Over the weekend we ran a clip from the documentary The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened? from Jon Schnepp, which chronicles Tim Burton‘s failed attempt to make a Superman movie starring Nicolas Cage. The film was in development and pre-production in the ’90s, based originally on a script from Kevin Smith, with a final revision from Dan Gilroy, who would eventually write and direct Nightcrawler.

The first ten minutes of The Death of Superman Lives are now online, and the long clip proves to be a good introduction to the story. It features Bryan Singer using still-infamous photos of Nic Cage in a Superman suit as a counter to exec interference on Superman Returns, and the disembodied head of comics writer Grant Morrison setting the stage for what could have been a very different Superman story. Read More »

Superman Lives, the ’90s effort that saw Tim Burton working on a Superman movie starring Nicolas Cage and originally scripted by Kevin Smith, is one of those “could have been” projects that continues to haunt fans. It haunted Jon Schnepp to such a degree that he made a documentary about it. The film, The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened?, is now complete and available for pre-order online. The movie is also doing some roadshow engagements, with a planned appearance at Comic Con.

Now you can check out a clip from the film, and it’s a big deal for those who’ve seen costume pics from the film over the years. This clip features a Nicolas Cage Superman costume test, and also reveals the degree to which one of the other now-famous designs from the film would have been used in the final movie. (Hint: barely.) Check out the great clip below. Read More »

Superman Lives is one of the biggest mysteries in modern film history. After making the blockbuster superhero film Batman, filmmaker Tim Burton decided he would try to do something similar for Superman. Kevin Smith wrote a script, Burton cast Nicolas Cage in the lead role and got deep in to pre-production. However, at some point, it got canned. To this day, photos and videos from the pre-production set the Internet on fire.

But what happened? Well filmmaker Jon Schnepp decided to find out. He’a almost done with production on the documentary The Death of Superman Lives; What Happened? and to keep interest piqued, he’s released a second full trailer in as many months. Check out The Death of Superman Lives trailer below. Read More »

Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they’re seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: What better way to hone your skills as a thoughtful moviegoer than by deconstructing these little pieces of advertising? This week we bring you a Comic-Con debut that involved Nicolas Cage’s mullet, celebrate Batman’s 75th anniversary with a story about a kid with cancer, get hitched and then have our bride lose her damn mind, and cap it off with Donnie Yen doing what he does best.

Movie projects fall apart all the time, and most of the time they simply fade from memory soon afterward. Years later, the people who actually worked on the movie might be the only ones who remember it even existed to begin with. But sometimes a failed effort is so bizarre or so high-profile — or both — that the public is still wondering about it, long after it’s become clear that it’ll never come to fruition.

One film that definitely falls into the latter category is Superman Lives, a proposed take from the ’90s that would’ve featured Nicolas Cage in the lead role with direction by Tim Burton and a script by Kevin Smith (among others). Even now, over a decade later, we’re intrigued when old bits of concept art or toy prototypes surface. While we’ll never get to see Burton’s vision for ourselves, an upcoming documentary by Jon Schnepp (Metalocalypse, Venture Bros.) aims to explore what could have been. More after the jump.